


Drift Away With Me (Pacific Rim AU)

by unboundpen



Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pacific Rim Fusion, F/F, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-15
Updated: 2013-09-25
Packaged: 2017-12-23 13:55:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/927284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unboundpen/pseuds/unboundpen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set in the world from the movie "Pacific Rim". Damian finds that piloting a Jaeger with Dick isn't all as amazing as it used to be. He's stuck wanting to continue being Dick's partner while also drowning in his feelings. Yeah, it might not sound that bad, but being in the drift makes it all that more complicated.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Damage Done

**Author's Note:**

> Jason tries to understand the mess that is Damian and Dick’s relationship.

Sometimes the Commander’s son likes to work on the Jaegers himself when there’s free time to do so. It’s so that he can keep himself familiarized with the mechanics and memorize what needs to be upgraded. Even though he is not the one solely in charge of making sure they’re in tight working condition, it’s what makes him a highly respectable pilot, especially at his age.

No one takes this seriously as much as Damian does, and Jason can’t help but be mesmerized by the intense look on the kid’s face. Crouched on the balls of his feet with his hands in one of the many operating units located on Mammoth Apostle’s inner elbow. They’re fairly close enough for Jason to reach out and touch one of her tusks if he wanted, which he does. She is one of the oldest Jaegers still in perfect working condition. Jason had been one of her pilots after all, once upon a time.

The pure concentration and effort Damian does to make sure their,  _his_ , Jaeger works properly is admirable indeed, but it doesn’t distract Jason from the main reason why he searched for the teen in the first place.

"I know you’re there, Todd." The boy’s hands come away greasy just as he turns his head to stare up at the older man.

"It’s not like I was trying to hide," Jason shrugs, arm dropping from the mechanical tusk. "Steph and Cass told me they saw you and your partner fighting again. I’m assuming this was after a drift simulation," he states, leaning over the hand rail to the catwalk.

"It’s an argument we have yet to resolve."

"Christ, kid, don’t give me the typical fellow pilots disagreeing bullshit again. Everyone in this goddamn base knows already. Just because it’s nearing the point where Dick typically starts to find a new partner, doesn’t mean that you guys’ll split."

Damian glowers, standing up and grabbing the dirty rag from his overalls pocket to wipe his hands off. “I know that.”

"Do you really?" Jason questions, studying the teen in front of him hard, but the kid doesn’t give him an answer, just fidgets with the rag. "Then do us all a favor and do something about it."

And that’s when Damian looks like he’s about to punch Jason. Instead, he pushes one of his still slightly greasy hands through his hair in frustration, leaving a smearing streak on his forehead and some strands to stick up straight, ruining the immaculate style he always has. Damian casts his eyes downward, almost swaying on the spot.

Seeing how conflicted the kid seems makes Jason push away from the railing and walk over to the teen, crowding him till he has Damian up against the reddish brown mechanical armor of the Jaeger.

It’s enough to startle Damian, making him look up at the older man as if surprised this is the first time this is happening. (Well it technically wasn’t. Their first time was just when Damian was acting like an obnoxious shithead, that he did it just to mess with the kid.) Jason traps him with his arms, leaning down to place a soft kiss on the kid’s mouth. He actually expects the teen to push him away immediately, but instead stands there, frigid, unsure of how to react. That’s a sure sign that these thoughts are fucking with the kid’s mentality.

Normally, Jason would just pull away and laugh it off as another way of teasing, but knowing how lost the kid was gets him to urge Damian to respond, slowing it down and bringing his hands down to wrap his fingers around the kid’s hips. Damian’s hands reach up to fist in Jason’s navy blue wifebeater, tightening and tugging to the point of stretching the fabric over Jason’s back. 

It takes time, but Damian starts to respond in kind, tentatively poking his tongue out to swipe at the older man’s bottom lip. He doesn’t exactly deepen the kiss, but it suddenly hits Jason that the kid probably hasn’t had the opportunity to properly kiss someone.

And just that thing makes him falter, lessening the kiss by easing the insisting push of his body.

"Damian! Jason!"

The curt calling of their names gets them jumping apart. Jason stumbles while Damian’s head connects with the metal behind him, making him stop for a second to hiss at the dizzying thunder from the back of his head. They both look at Dick, who’s staring at them wide-eyed as if still trying to process the situation.

Jason feels rather than sees Damian tense up. And he can’t help feeling even more bad for the kid, but he doesn’t try to say anything, simply waiting for someone to beak the silence.

But no one does. It’s just a constant staring contest between the two pilots, until Damian finally decides he’s had enough and rounds Jason to walk past him and then Dick.

Just before Damian’s body starts to descend on the stairs, Jason calls out, “If you wanna continue this, you know where to find me.”

Jason reaches out again, this time to grip the handrail to control his awry mind. He doesn’t particularly like the look Dick is giving him.

"What the hell was that, Jason?"

"What?"

"Don’t play stupid. You can’t just go ‘round kissing-"

"Kissing your partner? Tell me, Dick, are you just getting a kick out of seeing the kid suffer or are you too chicken shit to actually tell the kid that you like him?"

Interesting part to watch about Dick becoming mad was the fierce scowl. It was always a mesmerizing thing, watching the displeasure form itself on that face.

"You don’t know a thing," the older man spits out.

"Oh really? Then enlighten me Dickie-bird. Tell me what your main fucking goal is to not tell the kid."

"I don’t have to reason myself to you, Jason."

"Then obviously that means you don’t have any right to ask me why in the world I was kissing the CO’s kid." Which was pretty much true, but Jason couldn’t really stop the hurt blooming through his chest. 

Dick had been his surrogate older brother, but after what had happened, there had always been a strain in their relationship, considering he just appeared out of thin air when assumed dead. But if there was one thing Jason always relied on, it was Dick voicing his thoughts and now that wasn’t even a possibility.

He shoulders his way past Dick, feeling the frustration roll off of the older man in waves, and leaves him to stand there and wallow in his own fucking misery by walking down the stairs.


	2. Time is Ticking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Damian finds that drifting is taking more of an emotional toll.

Being in his Jaeger always gave Damian a sense of comfort, being able to meld himself with a powerful machine… _drifting_. However, doing so now, walking the perimeter along the coast of the Alaskan base, was anything but.

_Everything alright up there?_

The glance that Dick throws at him, worried and brother like, gets Damian scowling at the screens in front of him.

"All the same on this end, Babs." A signaling beep ends the transmission while Dick’s arm falls back to his side.

The comm crackles back on, Bruce’s voice coming on the air in that gruff voice of his. _Get back to base now. You’re both good for today._

Strangely, they had been in this machine so many times now, that the sound of metal scraping against metal, electric wire sparks, and the muted thunderous footsteps were considered silence for the two pilots.

"I know what you’re thinking, Grayson. Don’t say it."

"But-"

"You’re already in my head. You  _know_. You just refuse to accept  _my_  view, and you are most certainly ignoring the cause of it.”

He can see Dick mull over the memory, and continuing on pretty much replaying what had happened after the teen left that time.

"Jason was right,  _Grayson_ , you have no right on questioning things that aren’t your business.”

The guilt and shame he felt from his partner was satisfying enough, but has him feeling a bit of guilt and shame himself. 

It’s the first time they’ve drifted since the kiss with Jason, and his reluctance to answer any of Dick’s questions was for this very exercise. He didn’t have -want- to say it out loud if the older pilot was going to know whether he liked it or not.

It seems that his comment had shut Dick up. A quick glance to his left confirms it -a thin line forming on the man’s lips. And with that, Damian stays quiet himself, allowing the tense silence to wash over the both of them while holding back the wave of hurt threatening to wash over him, even while knowing that he really can’t do anything about it.

And when they’re in the base, finally parked and powering down, he’s already stepping down and exiting from the helm without another word to his partner.

xXx

Sometimes, Damian likes to just stare up at the clock, to watch the flaps count every second, minute, and hour for the next Kaiju to appear. There are always pipes and walkways located high above the work area where the Jaegers were parked in. He’d found himself a little area -after the academy, he had sorely needed a place just for himself- tucked away up high on a walkway that is barely ever used. (It was probably mostly for emergency uses.) Sometimes, his personal space wasn’t just his, but he never really minded Cain. She, unlike her partner, didn’t feel the need to interrupt the silence with incessant noise. For today, however, he was by himself.

It just so happened that the big old clock was right  _there_ , the sound of each flap falling down was what kept him from delving too much into his mind. 

Damian swings his legs over the edge by himself, kicking so that they swung in a way that felt like he was legs were gliding through the air.

"You might wanna tap down on the teenage angst going on there kid. I don’t have to be in the Drift with you to know."

So his voluntary isolation was interrupted, and not really by someone he wanted to be around at the moment.

"I’m not…angsting," he answers back without any heat, the word leaving an awkward taste in his mouth and realizing that it wasn’t exactly a word, and opts for kicking his feet again, watching his steel-toed boots disappear then come back into sight again and again.

"Bullshit." Damian finally turns to the older man, surprised when said man plops himself in front of the teen (or next to him, more like it), but quickly frowns his displeasure at him.

"You know, I bet that all that prim and proper thing is just an act of yours. I bet you cuss left and right when no one’s around." The toothpick hanging off of the older man’s lips wiggle while he talks, and it actually holds more of Damian’s interest than what Jason is saying. It hangs off the man’s bottom lip, severely close to falling off.

It takes a moment before Damian looks up to meet the older pilot’s eyes. He contemplates on just getting up and leaving; after all he’s managed to do it so many times before. Small talk was never really a thing he enjoyed -especially when it was about himself.

"Why are you here, Todd?"

Jason shrugs, “Oh nothing really.” His body leans back against the railing, trusting it not to let him fall down the forty or something feet to the main floor.

"Bullshit," Damian shoots back, deadpan, getting Jason’s lips to twitch in amusement.

"Just saw you sitting here all by your lonesome and thought that someone should be up here to make sure you didn’t end up splattering your brains all over the polished floor down there. You’re the youngest one out of all of us, and yet you’re the one that’s had the most injuries within the past two years."

"Careful, Todd, you sound like you care."

Jason takes out the toothpick, holding it between his fingers like it was a cigarette, arm propping up on a bent knee, giving the impression that he was getting comfortable. “Wouldn’t hurt if I did, now would it?”

It shocks Damian to hear the easy admission, leaving him gripping the railing tightly until his knuckles started to turn white.

"Just know that I’m here if you want to talk."

The relaxing posture from Jason is proof enough that he’s not kidding. Which gets Damian slightly curious at the change of the man’s tactics, going from demanding and invasive to patient. Sure there was the tenseness visible in the older man’s shoulders even with the easy going grin on his face. There was some reason why he even cared…but Damian still wasn’t sure he wanted to know or not.

He turns to face the clock again, noting that they were ticking their way towards the next estimated Kaiju attack. Was it morbid that he looked forward to it?

But then with the way things have been going….

"And I wouldn’t really mind teaching you a thing or two about kissing."

It was a reflex more than anything really, but punching Jason hard enough to make him grunt at the pain brought a small smile to Damian’s lips.

 


	3. Theories Never Solve Anything

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Damian finally tells Jason what’s going on between him and Dick, and it’s all a big what if.

"I remember when I had to take those," Jason mentions, gesturing to the tin can held delicately between Damian’s fingers. "You’re lucky that they started giving metharocin immediately. I only started using it after two years of being a pilot."

Damian stares down at the slim pills, not really thinking much on it before taking one out to place on his tongue. He reaches over to take the opened bottle of water from the older man and chugs it down, successfully swallowing everything in his mouth.

"It must be nice to pilot a Mark IV, no chance of radiation poisoning," he replies after clearing his throat. Although, his tone shows no sign of envy. Piloting the same Jaeger that his father had is enough to make Damian proud of his accomplishments.

Jason shrugs walking along the seashore, kicking aside debris away from the tide washing up on the sand. “Heard they had a Kaiju near the Hong Kong Shatterdome that had an EMP infused in it’s back. So, no, not all digital is great for taking down the sons of bitches.”

Damian caps the bottle, studying the older man with a sudden curiosity he wouldn’t have ever thought to give anyone else. After the events that had happened, spending time with him, willingly or not, left Damian wanting to know more about him.

Sure there were past stories on how Jason and his father took down a great number of Kaiju, but that was all there was. It was really sort of a taboo thing to ask what was their relationship to each other and why had Jason kept himself hidden from the Jaeger program when he was actually alive hopping from odd job to odd job rather than dead.

But it itches in the back of his mind, a sort of burning question he wants to ask, knowing how it’s the only thing distracting him from thinking about his own problems.

"There’s no doubt that they evolve to conform to our lines of defense, but West thinks there may be a way for them to communicate with the ones that end up here."

"Then let’s leave that up to the scientists to solve, yeah?"

Damian scowls at that. Jason’s dismissal for anything remotely relating to scientific theories that West and Allen give, gives the impression that he wants nothing more than to keep on fighting Kaiju until they don’t come anymore. Never mind using those theories for preventative measure or anything. However, Damian knows that Jason cares for the sake of humanity just as much as anyone else does.

Damian hunches in his p-coat, hating the bite of cold that stings his cheeks and envies the easy composure the older man has in just his leather jacket.

"So when’s the last time you and Dick talked?"

And there it is, the main reason why Jason had dragged him on this cursed walk on the beach in the first place. To talk about Grayson, bringing his problems to the forefront. He closes the tin and pockets it carefully before taking another sip of his water as he stares out to the coastline, the Shatterdome only a few miles away from shore.

He sighs, knowing that the feeling he’s getting gives him an inkling that Jason won’t let this drop. “Not since the last patrol around the Miracle Mile.”

"Shit, kid, that’s almost four days ago."

Damian rolls his eyes, coming to a stop beside the older man. “Thank you for having little faith in my keeping track of time.”

Jason throws a glare at him before choosing to lean on a boulder. He spits the toothpick out and opts for an actual cigarette, much to Damian’s disgust.

"Cut the sarcasm, kid," Jason mutters around the cigarette just as he lights it and takes a long drag, the smoke almost blending in with the white streak in his hair."You can’t keep on giving Dick the cold shoulder. Even though I get the feeling that he deserves it." It’s small, but the lilt at the end of the sentence is enough of a cue to clue Damian in that he might need to explain a few things.

And Damian’s on the verge of punching the older man in the stomach just so he wouldn’t have to.

But Jason simply crosses his arms over his chest, patiently waiting for Damian to respond. And after a good five minutes, he relents. “There’s nothing I can do. Not when he chooses not to properly acknowledge my feelings.”

Jason doesn’t say anything, just continues to blow out smoke as he waits for Damian to continue.

Damian sighs, “Drifting allows us to become one with our partner, to connect our minds and to enhance our fighting within the Jaeger.” Damian sees Jason fight off the urge to roll his eyes and to probably say somehing like ‘no shit’, but manages to remain silent as Damian continues, “my feelings for Grayson have grown strong within the past year. And yet I cannot hide these feelings from Grayson whenever we drift, nor him with me.

"And we all know that I was the one that started feeling romantically toward my partner first. Some say that drifting with someone can infuse your thoughts together, influence your opinions with another…to a point of not being able to tell the difference between your own thoughts and theirs. And because of how my feelings are now, he has started to question if it is just me overly projecting my feelings to a point where he feels he needs to reciprocate and isn’t sure if they are purely his own. It’s because of this that our partnership is straining at the moment."

Jason hums thoughtfully, settling more into the boulder as Damian waits for something inevitable to come out of that mouth. “You know, you’re saying it’s cause of his problem with coming to a settlement with his thoughts that’s causing a strain in your relationship, but you’re contributing to it too -‘though not as much as him. You’re only making things worse by avoiding him.”

"I’m not avoiding him," Damian replies childishly, ignoring the snort Jason gives him in response, "I’ve decided time away is better, rather than to be constantly reminded of his silent rejection."

And it may be the chilling winds that have started to pick up, but Damian’s eyes prickle, start to sting. And he stands there for a moment, feeling the wind beat against his back.

He finds himself being tugged into a warm embrace, and he doesn’t realize he’s been shivering until that moment when he’s moving involuntary in Jason’s arms.

It was an act that his body did accordingly, leaving him to focus on the warm wetness trailing down his face. Damian isn’t so sure if it’s just the cold that is making him act like this. He feels Jason stub out the lit cig, before feeling a hand comb through his short hair and pull his face to press into the older man’s neck. It smells like worn down leather, metal and smoke, a true comfort against the cold.

Just this once Damian doesn’t mind the intimacy, just like he hadn’t when Jason had initiated contact before. And just that memory reminds him, and makes him aware just how close they are.

His gloved hands reach up to flatten against the boulder before he decides to push himself away so he can look up. It’s Jason who gives him a searching look, one that isn’t making Damian any more uncomfortable. It’s almost surreal because he’s never had true comfort for this kind of pain before…and it’s nice.

It becomes even nicer when Jason leans down and gives him a gentle kiss, one much gentler than before. And truth be told, this was the only kiss that they had shared after Dick had caught them, despite Jason’s taunting and light threats with more. And much like before, Damian feels himself relax, allows his body to sink into the comfort of Jason’s easily.

He follows the older pilot’s lead, letting him take control as his eyes flutter shut. Any worry still there slips from his mind, allowing him to focus on the soft sweep of Jason’s tongue before it enters his mouth.

He knows nothing about kissing, well except for the lips to lips part, but he knows Jason knows he doesn’t. Probably must have gotten that from the last time, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t try to meet Jason’s intensity, even going so far as to press closer and try to kiss the older man harder.

It’s a low unfamiliar rumbling that starts from Jason’s throat and dips down to his chest, the vibrations shaking Damian within the arms locking him in.

He tastes of smoke and artificially sweet green apple, an interesting combination, but not unpleasant. Just the same as before.

It’s a matter of time before they break away, breaths coming out in swirls of steam around them as they stare at each other for a moment.

Jason breaks eye contact, gaze flickering over Damian’s shoulder before looking back at the teen.

"Guess we should head back. Someone’s bound to start looking for us soon."

Damian blinks when they shift apart, glancing down for a moment before he meets a smug lazy grin gracing Jason’s plump lips -no doubt that his probably look like they’re in the same state.

"Hey, if you want to take it further," Jason leers, getting Damian’s flush to grow throughout his body without his control, "then we should get back."

Damian hobbles backwards, knowing how much Jason is amused by it, and starts to make his way to the motorboat parked a few yards away from them.

He completely ignores the deep chuckle that echoes behind him as the older man follows.

 


	4. Not A Bystander

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tim doesn’t like the feeling of just watching from the sidelines, nor does he like getting one-sided information.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is more from Tim’s POV on what’s going on, and more filler than anything. I pretty much just wanted to explore and go more in depth with the AU. Also this shows a bit of how he interacts with Jason, Damian, and Dick. (This is my first time writing Tim, ever, so please bear with me here) :)

Tim isn’t sure what to make out, out of all of this. Although it may seem sick and twisted under normal circumstances, partaking in witnessing this destructive manner of romance was something Tim believed to be comforting. That fighting against aliens was not taking it’s toll on everyone, least of all, Damian. Although it may have the opposite effect and they just don’t know it. Either way he still worries, and from  the amount of it directed to his fellow Ranger is enough for him to question when he had started being more caring for the teen.

Sure, he didn’t like the brat half of the time, but being the youngest out of all of them made Tim worry for him. This was a war after all.

But it made him incredibly uneasy that Jason was getting a little too close for comfort. Especially the reason why….

"Whoever decided that making multiple heads for a Jaeger needs to go crawl in a ditch and stay there," Jason grumbles.

"The idea is so that the Kaiju have a lesser chance of harming us, Jason," Tim says, while going over the same report that the older man was looking at. There had been improvements to their Jaeger that was on a need to know, and a test run would probably follow shortly.

"The Conn-pod is located in the fucking chest!"

"Most post-Mark III series have them in the head, it was a good idea to model it after Cherno Alpha for a change. Also, what’s the point of naming it Hydra Corinthian if it doesn’t have multiple heads?"

"Well that’s what you get when you have mechanics naming themselves Amazons, you get Greek themed shit everywhere."

Tim lets the report flutter flat in his hands to give Jason a proper stare. “Don’t let Diana hear you say that.”

The older man shrugs his wide shoulders, before slapping his copy of the report on the table top. He shifts himself in his chair until his feet are propped up and his upper body is much lower than he originally was.

Tim’s disapproving frown does nothing to sway his co-pilot, “I swear if you sleep instead of reading the report then I’m dumping a bucket of ice cold seawater on you.  _Again._ ”

"What’s the point, Timmy? You have a better understanding of how this thing works, and most of that info will be in my head when we Drift anyway."

Tim tries not to start a fight, not when it’s this fucking early in the morning, but his efforts on not throwing himself across the table to smack Jason however which way he wants ends up with his eyes twitching to a point that he has to close them.

"You’re just finding ways to be even more lazy than you already are," he mutters under his breath, reaching up to rub his eyelids soothingly.

"Yeah, well…." Even with his eyes closed he can practically hear the shrug in the older man’s words.

Despite his words, Tim doesn’t feel the need to read the report this early either, which normally would be a big shocker to anyone who knew him -due to him ‘living and breathing Jaegers’ as one colleague had put it. If it weren’t for the fact that he was Drift compatible enough for Bruce to let him become a pilot, he would probably be head of a J-Tech team, most likely head of restorations. He did have a big hand in restoring Mammoth Apostle when Bruce decided it was best to take it out of the graveyard for full use again.

Ever since the United Nations decided that they needed to cut back on the production of Jaegers for the support of that stupid wall idea, money had been coming in not as frequently, and restoring old Jaegers was starting to become a recurring pattern within the Jaeger program.

"So," he starts, placing his own report back into it’s manilla folder, deciding it would be best to read it later when he was more focused, and then trails off not exactly sure how to phrase his question without being nosy.

"You got something to say, just say it." Jason doesn’t even look the least bit bothered, and seems to have already decided he needed to anticipte for what Tim was about to ask.

"What’s the deal with you and Damian?"

"What about it?"

"I mean," Tim pauses, thinking carefully on how to ask it. "Why are you going out of your way to spend time with him more than you usually do?"

Jason blinks his eyes open to stare at Tim in a way that always bothered the younger man. It was like he was trying to melt anyone, he directed his gaze at, from the inside out and it wasn’t much of a heated look either, but it was powerful. He had managed to make one techie cry with that look after an unfortunate incident regarding cooling fluid and an unopened box of cigarettes.

Tim’s afraid Jason might just get up and leave without any possible answer, what with him shifting again till he’s standing up and stretching. The older man yawns, hands straight above his head and quivering just the slightest in a way that let Tim know that it was one of those stretches.

"When you’re in a lot of pain like he is," Jason responds, his hands dropping to his sides like weights, "it’s best to have someone there to keep you company."

"And you’re speaking from experience."

He watches Jason walk towards the hatch and halt in front of it with one hand stopping mid-motion. “Yeah, guess you can say that.”

"And you think kissing him is helping ease that pain. Oh yeah, I know about that little incident," Tim adds when Jason looks about to question him, "Dick wouldn’t shut up about it."

The bemused grin forming on Jason’s face does nothing to placate his feelings on the matter. After being on the receiving end of Dick’s ranting for two hours, give or take, Tim feels his need to know what the hell is going on should be justified.

"Touch is a very reassuring thing, Tim.  _You_  would know.” Suggestive as it may be, Tim forces the blush down.

"You know, Bruce-"

"Do me a favor, Tim, let’s not talk about it, yeah?"

"But-"

"Just don’t." The force of Jason’s words leave Tim silent, only to watch the older man twirl the hatch open and exit out of the room with a clang.

Tim knows how much baggage Jason has what with them going into the Drift after all, but he also knows that Jason usually keeps the past bottled up inside, and every chance he tries to get Jason to at least talk about it, it usually ends up as it did just now.

But guessing with the way things are going with Damian, this may be the actual thing that may be helping Jason come to terms with it, albeit very slowly, but it’s a start.

——  
A few hours and Tim has already absorbed the report, understanding it on a full level, while also knowing Jason has probably done the same -even with what he said earlier. The older man might not give any indication that he knows the updates on their Jaeger or any important information on the PPDC as a whole His co-pilot may be an asshole most of the time, but he gets the job done. 

Tim has faith, considering the shock he felt when Jason kept up with the changes in the interfaces the first time they’ve teamed up. He wouldn’t allow Jason the satisfaction of feeling that smug ever again….

Turning around the bulkhead, Tim almost collides into a frame that is almost his height.

"Watch where you’re going, Drake," the person says, easily stepping to the side so that the two of them just had their arms knocking into each other.

"Oh, uh- sorry, Damian," Tim automatically replies, lifting his hand to his chest out of instinct.

The younger boy looks pointedly at it before trailing his eyes up to meet Tim’s. They both know that his pitch didn’t give any indication that this was just a brush-by. “Hey, so I was looking for…you….” And, god, if that didn’t sound pitiful at all coming from his mouth.

"Make it quick, Drake."

"Uh," Tim isn’t sure how to go about saying this, "Look it isn’t something that’s going to be quick, per say. Do you really have somewhere you have to be?"

And there’s this moment of silence between them with Damian just studying him as if there’s some sort of hidden plan to assassinate the teen or something. Which, admittedly was actually a thing of the past (although, sabotage would be a better word) but the brat doesn’t really need that sort of knowledge right now, and probably not ever if Tim thinks about it.

"No," he answers slowly, facing Tim, "I’m in no rush to be anywhere."

_I just prefer it that this be quick._

Tim reaches up to rub his neck nervously, “Okay, good. Um, look, I know you and I haven’t been on very good terms, but if you just…I don’t know, need to vent to someone, I’m here.”

He avoids looking at Damian for too long and casts his eyes up with a body heaving sigh, but not before seeing the look of bewilderment flicker on the kid’s face. It’s the third time he’s seen that look -the first time was when Cassandra pinned him and the second was when Tim did. And none of it was using (Kwoon fighting technique), just a full out brawl to keep Damian from being too much of a brat. He’s half expecting for some sort of retort back -wants it, too- just so that the awkward presence goes away.

"I know Jason’s been helping you cope and all, but -I have no reason for playing matchmaker- just…if I’m Dick’s friend to confide in, then it would only be fair that I should give you the same. We’re in a war after all, Damian. So, I care for you."

He can practically feel Damian’s eyes roam all over him as if what he just said was a lie and the truth was tacked onto his body. “As much as I appreciate the offer, Drake, I don’t think you’d be interested in anything I have to say. And,” Damian gets louder when Tim tries to speak, “we both know this is your only way of knowing what’s going on between the pilots of Mammoth.”

Damian makes a move to continue on the path he originally was on, but Tim reaches out to grab him by the arm, keeping him from letting this moment pass.

"No, Damian, I’m completely serious. There’s no end game to me getting involved-ish. Sure, I may be curious to what’s going on, but only to see if the two of you are alright and don’t end up getting killed. If you want, I’m even offering to be your official punching bag if it really comes to that."

Tim finds it a good sign when Damian glances at him over his shoulder before stepping back so that his arm wasn’t locked straight, and he sees something flicker over the teen’s face, it’s unreadable, but Tim would like to think that it’s something within the same level of acceptance.

"If I ever need to, no questions or advice or anything of the sort unless I allow it," which Tim understands, "I’ll come to you about it, Drake. I’m holding you to your word."

The older man nods, smiling hesitantly at Damian, and the teen returns it with a curt nod of his own and makes to walk away but not before Tim could call out, “I’ll even go easier on you in the Kwoon,” and gets flipped the bird in return.

Well, at least Damian didn’t outright refuse him after all.

——  
He knows the most frequented places for Dick Grayson. Habitual patterns that he’s long picked up since they were partners. Dick was either in the mess hall, by the feet of Mammoth talking to a crew member, or in the science labs keeping Wally West company. And around this time it’d be the latter of the three.

Out of the two that are initially involved, Tim finds that Dick has seen better days, while Damian still looks as menacing as ever since the day he’s arrived. And today seems like just any other regular day as he walks through the heavy set of sliding doors.

He can almost hear the two scientists going at it again, something dealing with who’s Kaiju entrails was who’s in the corner. According to Dick, Bart Allen -one of the youngest scientists in this division- got his Ph D by the age of 20, and while his intelligence was great, he was still assigned to work alongside Dr. West as an unofficial assistant. Apparently, Bruce was still under the firm belief of seniority over anything else. As expected of one from military background, but given that the guy’s grandfather was one of the firsts to work on the bodies of the Kaiju and contribute to their cause before falling victim to Kaiju Blue, Tim suspected it was a deciding factor.

Tim hasn’t really gotten around to properly asking Bart about his background info after they got into discussing a few things, but it’s safe to say that he’s getting closer to that metaphorical level of getting a right to ask more details on it. Bart may be a bit…unusual, but Tim genuinely likes the scientist and all his quirky actions.

He stands off to the side, watching the two of them argue, just until Dick notices him. Dick tilts his head with a tired smile. “Hey, Tim.”

The younger man approaches, taking a seat on the metal stool next to Dick’s.

"Babs told me Diana made an update on Hydra."

"Yeah, nothing special, just an increase of thrust capacity. They mostly have plans on adding more weapons to our arsenal already."

"Again?" Dick’s weariness is exactly how Tim feels about it all, but this is what he gets for having the Amazons as his Jaeger crew.

He shrugs, knowing not to pay mind to it all that much, “Jason and I are the best pilots when it comes to adapting to changes inside, outside, and on the Jaeger. Who else is going to keep up with Diana?”

"At this rate you guys’ll be keeling over from the weight."

They both know that, that isn’t true (considering the look Diana would give them if they even implied it around her), but Dick’s sense of humor was easing into morbid as of late. And it didn’t take much for Tim to figure out why.

"How many hours of sleep did you get this time?"

"Three, maybe four."

It’s as if mentioning it was the root of his problems, Dick’s head falls on top of the table with an echoing thud. Sure sleep deprivation was something everyone goes through -especially Jaeger pilots- but seeing Dick like this was, well…pathetic -as much as it pains Tim to think that.

"It’s drifting, I think I’m getting too old for this job."

Tim tries not to say anything otherwise, but it’s hard when the man is acting like nothing else was wrong. Instead, he watches Bart zip around, clutching his tools to his chest with a pout that brings an amused smile to Tim’s lips. Dr. West, on the other hand, happens to fling some Kaiju guts around with his wild gestures.

To think, their relationship was much worse when Tim had graduated from the academy. The core root of their problems being how clean they keep their work space.

"If you’re old, then Bruce is ancient and should be retiring."

"Is that your attempt at convincing me to become Head Marshal? Haa… you know how long people have been saying that to me?"

"And you’re still here Marshal and piloting Jaegers."

Dick turns his face with a weak smile, trying to grin, “Someone has to be Damian’s co-pilot. Not a lot of candidates are drift compatible with him.”

Again, Tim keeps his thoughts to himself, resisting the thoughts that race through.

Poor Damian….

Not that he also didn’t feel sorry for Dick’s inner turmoil. He himself wasn’t even sure what’s going on between them, but he had a suspicion that Jason had already gotten a good understanding of the situation by now. He’ll probably learn about it sooner or later. But he would prefer knowing just so he could get a full handle on all of this before it messed someone up.

"Speaking of Damian," Tim starts as nonchalantly as he could keeping his eyes on the youngest of the four of them in the room, "have you smoothed things over with him? The way he stormed out of the Conn-pod was just…."

The long heaving and suffering sigh was answer enough, but Dick did attempt to raise his head to acknowledge Tim’s question. “I’ve tried, it’s either he doesn’t want to be around me or Jason convinces Damian he doesn’t want to be around me when he isn’t irritable or something. At this point, I feel like talking would just make things worse.”

"Have you actually really tried talking to the little demon with whatever is going on between the two of you? And I don’t mean the petty arguments that seem even more stupid compared to the arguments Jason and I have."

Yeah, things have gotten that bad from Tim’s perspective. But Dick’s hesitation to answer was a big enough of a clue and Tim suddenly starts feeling as tired as Dick looks.

"So everything he got, it was when you guys drift. Dick, you-"

"I know, Tim!" Dick snaps, his face completely fierce while creating an unsteady silence in the room. Both scientists were looking at them curiously and that gets Dick wincing and softening his expression. "Sorry, with Jason butting in and making things complicated, Damian’s become this person who I only see when it’s necessary. I didn’t realize the Shatterdome was this huge till now."

For now it seems Dick is hellbent on staying in the denial stage, placing blame on others besides himself, and knowing how not Dick-like that was, this was a more serious issue.

Watching Dick place his head back down on the table got him feeling sorry for his old partner as well.


End file.
